Circuit de Monaco

Circuit de Monaco is a 3.337 km (2.074 mi) street circuit laid out on the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the Principality of Monaco. It is commonly, and even officially, referred to as "Monte Carlo" because it is largely inside the Monte Carlo neighbourhood of Monaco.

The circuit is annually used on three weekends in April–May for Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, Formula E Monaco ePrix and Historic Grand Prix of Monaco. Formula One's respective feeder series over the years – Formula 3000, GP2 Series and today the Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 championships and Porsche Supercup – also visit the circuit concurrently with Formula One. The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the three events victories which count towards the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

The idea for a Grand Prix race around the streets of Monaco came from Antony Noghès, the president of the Monegasque motor club, Automobile Club de Monaco, and close friend of the ruling Grimaldi family. The inaugural race was held in 1929 and was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti.

To date, only four local drivers have won a race at the circuit. Louis Chiron did it at the non-championship 1931 Monaco Grand Prix; 82 years later, Stefano Coletti crossed the line in first position at the sprint race of the 2013 Monaco GP2 Series round. The third driver to do so was Stéphane Richelmi at the sprint race of the 2014 Monaco GP2 Series round. The fourth was Charles Leclerc at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.

The track has remained substantially unchanged since its creation in 1929: as a city circuit, its conformation is closely linked to that of the principality's road system. The changes were almost entirely connected to redefinitions of the ordinary roads of the town.

In the first editions of the Grand Prix, the start and finish were placed on Boulevard Albert 1er (the innermost straight, which leads to the Sainte Dévote curve). In 1955 the start and finish were moved to the opposite straight, overlooking the promenade (that now houses the pit lane). At the time, neither the Piscine complex nor the "La Rascasse" hairpin existed: after the "Tabac" curve, the route proceeded in the lane that is parallel to today's starting straight: the two sections (separated only by a row of trees) were joined by a single narrow hairpin called the "Gasometer". As can be seen from the period films, in the second half of the 1950s the only existing lane after the Tabac was the one mentioned; in fact, in those years, the lane that we now call "promenade" with the two "Piscine" chicanes was not yet defined, and only in the 1960s images we can notice the progress of the landfilling about that portion of the bay, including the Piscine area which would be completed shortly thereafter.

In 1963 the starting line was moved back to Boulevard Albert 1er (opposite the promenade). The swimming pool and the waterfront lane that 10 years later would become part of the circuit had already been created, but at that point in time no changes were made to the track from the "Tabac" to the "Gasometer".

In 1972 the boxes were moved near the "Chicane" area of the port, so the chicane was relocated closer to the "Tabac" curve. After this, the track continued on the usual straight (parallel to the starting lane) using the "Gasometer" curve for the last time. This solution lasted only a year and, in the following months, the main works were completed in time for the 1973 Grand Prix with the construction of a new section, connecting the "Tabac" curve to "Piscine" (Stade Nautique). This change added 0.133 km (0.083 mi) to the circuit – bringing its total length to 3.278 km (2.037 mi) – adding the new portion along the harbour, which followed the layout of the swimming pool and ended in a new chicane around the "La Rascasse" restaurant and a slight climb to the "Antony Noghès Curve" before rejoining the starting straight. The boxes were reinstalled in the old lane (now free). 1972 was also the last year for the passage through the old tunnel.